What the press had to say about Glenn Branca and "Symphony No. 1" released as a ROIR cassette in 1983: "Symphony No. 1 is the acme of what recent New York art rockers have yet accomplished. This may be the loudest piece of music this writer has ever heard." John Rockwell, New York Times. July 19, 1981

"Imagine a lion roaring and put your head in its mouth. Then you might get close to the impact of Branca's music. All the flesh of pop music is hacked away, but the terrifying bones still remain." New Musical Express, UK, January 14, 1984

"He succeeds in turning over the so-called evil sexual powers of rock music in its primitive state into a form of resistance." Kim Gordon, Art Forum, January 1983

"Those who heard Symphony No. 1 in 1981 knew it left them all shook up. This recording shows there was method in the mayhem. Huge and brutal and utterly magnificent." Jon Pareles, New York Times, Liner Notes, 1983